


No Strings Attached: Epilogue

by Say_Anything



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Death, F/F, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Glimmer gets sad remembering her life, NSA epilogue, They have to explain death to a 3 year old, but its got a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29717856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Say_Anything/pseuds/Say_Anything
Summary: Nearly a decade after the events of 'No Strings Attached', Glimmer and Adora take their daughter on an important trip to Micah's final resting place.
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 21





	No Strings Attached: Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [No Strings Attached](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23173117) by [LunariumParakeet (EtherianFrigatebird)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtherianFrigatebird/pseuds/LunariumParakeet), [Say_Anything](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Say_Anything/pseuds/Say_Anything). 



> Hello! Welcome back(-ish) to the NSA verse. I actually had an entire sequel planned but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to really write it. If I do, great! I'll still post it. But for now, I skipped ahead a decade to wrap up the journey of these characters in. Luna is my default fankid name for Glimmadora LMAO, so she's here too, but uh.... Conceived using the resources we have irl, no magic for her still--haha what a loser.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy another installment of this modern AU :)))  
> (P.S. yes Glimmer is almost 30 and still rocking the tattoos and piercings, a fucking Queen)

The cemetery looked beautiful.

Which was a weird thought to pass through Glimmer’s head, but it did. 

With the sun shining down, and the late spring weather blowing a gentle breeze through the large oak trees, it was hard not to feel like this was just a normal family outing.

And in a way, Glimmer supposed it was. She’d visited Micah’s grave far more often since marrying Adora. It had been quite a few years now, and gathering at her father’s final resting place with her loved ones didn’t hurt as much as it used to. Now they managed to swap stories, or tell _him_ how their own lives were going. When she came with all of them, it didn’t feel like a ritual of grief. It felt more like a celebration of his life and memory. They could all miss him, but they missed him together, and the loneliness didn’t reach so deep.

Sometimes, it still felt strange though. Talking to him, or about him, when he---didn’t exist anymore. Glimmer knew he couldn’t hear them, even though she yearned to believe he could.

But, he was nowhere, just gone. Or at least somewhere farther away than any of them could ever reach in life.

Deep in her heart, though, she wanted to believe he’d been watching her grow. Appreciating all the effort she’d put in over the last nine years.

She was about to turn thirty, in a few months.

Would he have laughed at that? Would he tease her for being old? Seek out grey hairs? She’d never know. And the familiar ache of loss was starting to tug at her heart again. Especially with the added stress of bringing Luna today. This wasn’t an outing where her family could comfort her on the loss just by being there with her.

Today, she was going to need to be the strong one. To try to explain the concept of death to a three-year-old. To try to tell her how much she was loved by someone she’d never even met…. Who she never _would_ meet.

The excited screech of her toddler startled her back to reality as Adora let her out of the minivan. The stupid car was a sore spot for Glimmer’s pride -- because she knew she was much to badass for such a Karen car. But...It really helped with space to pack the stroller and car seats and stuff.

Luna was toddling quickly towards her, bolting away from Adora who was still trying to lock the car door, while juggling their basket full of gifts to leave at the headstone.

“C’mere you little gremlin,” Glimmer caught the toddler around her middle as she skittered by and lifted her into the air. The hysterical giggles momentarily quelled the sadness collecting in Glimmer’s heart. She tried to settle the toddler on her hip, but Luna squealed and kicked her legs and whined:

“No, Mommy! _Down_!”

“Are you gonna run off without me if I put you down?” Glimmer admonished, lowering the squirming toddler anyway.

“No!” she shouted again -- although that wasn’t really an answer, just her favorite word. Once her light up sketchers touched the ground she began toddling away again, but this time Glimmer took her tiny hand, forcing her to stay within a two foot radius. 

As Luna babbled incoherent complaints, Glimmer looked back at her wife, who was finally joining them.

“Sorry,” Adora apologized, brushing her bangs out of her eyes, flustered already. “She got away from me.”

“We’ll have to invest in one of those weird baby backpack leashes,” Glimmer teased as Luna tugged on her hand again, eager to explore the new place. 

Adora looked aghast at the suggestion.

“Leash her?”

“Baby… It was a joke, I’m sorry.” Glimmer tried to lean in to kiss her wife’s cheek, but Luna gave her hand a mighty tug and they stumbled closer to the gate instead.

“No, no, _I’m_ sorry,” Adora assured her, following them as Luna practically head butted the gate open. “I guess I’m just a little...Anxious.”

Glimmer didn’t need to ask for clarification. Adora had also lost Micah all those years ago, and while her grief over the loss didn’t match Glimmer’s exactly -- she could sympathize on a fundamental level. And she’d also proven to be an exceptional helicopter mom at times. Something Glimmer teased her for, but also understood. 

A family was a very important concept to Adora. One she’d never had from birth, and had to work hard to create on her own. The decision to start their own family had been a very important, and almost divisive one, early on in their marriage. 

Adora had once explained to her how badly she wanted to give her own child the life she never had, but had yearned for growing up. And once Glimmer was able to _see_ her with their baby, and experience the unconditional love Adora had for their child first hand -- well it was difficult to tell her when she worried too much. 

Adora had always loved _hard_ , and it would have been foolish of Glimmer to expect anything less when it came to their own child.

So it wasn’t out of character for her to be anxious about explaining the loss of Micah to Luna today.

Besides that, Micah was just an easy man to miss.

Bow, Angella, Casta and even Adam had often made this trip with them many times before as well. And although none of them could join today, Glimmer knew they too would have felt the same anxious jitters. 

Angella and Bow in particular, she knew, had become very attached to Luna. Angella absolutely spoiled the baby rotten -- and Glimmer did nothing to stop her. Meanwhile, Bow and Adam were still figuring out how to balance their own lives, children weren’t in the equation yet. But that hadn’t stopped her best friend from absolutely fawning over the baby from the moment she’d been born.

_‘Glimmer,’ he’d said in awe, cradling the baby carefully in the hospital. ‘Wow she… She has the same chip on her shoulder as you do already.’_

_Glimmer, still exhausted, had gathered just enough energy to flip him off. Bow had gasped and covered Luna’s closed eyes in shock._

He’d also gifted Luna a Kermit doll on her first birthday. Lucky for Luna, it was an adorable gift and she loved the Muppets. Adora had cried watching her reaction and thanked Bow profusely. 

Glimmer on the other hand spontaneously tried to develop laser vision so she could burn a whole through Bow -- especially when he turned to her and gave her the most devilish grin she’d ever seen twist his face.

Shaking off the memories as all three entered the cemetery, Glimmer tugged on Luna’s hand, pulling her back a bit and kneeling down to face her.

“Okay Lu, do you remember what we told you in the car?”

Luna thought about it, pursing her lips and puffing out her fat cheeks. “Be quiet!”

“That’s right, because this is a special place and we need to be respectful. So stay with me and Mama please, okay?”

Luna nodded, looking almost contrite for her antics. Glimmer smiled and kissed her tiny forehead, brushing her wild blonde bangs away.

Standing, she took Luna’s hand again and led the way to Micah’s grave.

It was marked by a simple white headstone, nothing elaborate, everyone knew Micah wouldn’t want extravagance. In fact, if he’d had his way, he probably would have joked about just being thrown into the ocean and eaten by a whale or something equally ridiculous.

Luna had quieted and was now watching the trees and birds tweeting in them with wide blue eyes. She peered at the various headstones they passed, craning her neck to examine flowers as Glimmer pulled her along. Adora joined them on Luna’s right side, taking her other hand and swinging their arms playfully.

Luna bounced and giggled, but she kept quiet otherwise, as asked.

Part of her didn’t know what to say, Glimmer realized, as they approached the headstone. She… Hadn’t really figured out how to explain to the toddler that -- this headstone represented the grandfather she’d never met. Would it be okay to tell her to say some words to him… Even though Glimmer didn’t even believe herself that they would reach him. It was still okay to soften the blow of death for a child, right? Or maybe Adora would take the lead… But wasn’t it Glimmer’s responsibility? Micah was _her_ father.

The sickening swirl of anxiety and grief filled Glimmer’s gut again. Maybe they should have waited to introduce Luna to this concept. She’d only ever seen Micah in pictures...How could she possibly correlate---

They arrived at Micah’s headstone before Glimmer could turn and run back to the car. On the stone were a few simple lines of text:

_Micah Sato_

_1964-2010_

_A dear Husband, Father and Brother_

_His absence is a silent grief_

_His life a beautiful memory_

Despite all of the years that had passed since that awful winter day, and all the things Glimmer had done to heal, reading the words her mother had so lovingly chosen for Micah’s epitaph made her eyes water and her throat burn.

Luckily, before the emotions could overwhelm her, Adora stepped forward with their little basket of gifts and knelt next to Luna. She withdrew a photo from the basket. It was old, in a worn frame, but it was one Angella had used to tell a baby Luna stories of Micah before she could even talk.

It depicted the three of them: Angella, Micah and Glimmer at a park together. Micah’s favorite place to take ‘his girls’ out to for holidays. He’d set the old camera up far enough to capture them all, but a Glimmer not much older than Luna, was a bit blurred as she squirmed impatiently during the picture taking. 

Angella was beaming -- the broadest and brightest smile Glimmer ever remembered her giving. She had not seen one that held quite as much happiness since Micah passed. And of course, he was grinning too, trying to hold onto Glimmer, his eyes squeezed shut just as the flash went off. 

Glimmer supposed maybe they should have retaken it. But there was so much of _them_ , of life, within the photo that it remained her favorite to this day.

“Who’s that, Lu?” Adora prompted, handing the frame to Luna. She peered down at it very thoughtfully, brow furrowed. Helpfully, Adora made sure to point specifically to the old image of Micah.

Finally, she looked up and replied, “Grampa.”

“That’s right,” Adora gave her a gentle smile and then nodded towards the headstone. “Do you wanna give him the picture?”

Luna looked briefly confused, peering at the headstone, and then the picture, and then around it, and then back at Adora as if another explanation was forthcoming. 

“In there?” she clarified, and then waddled over and placed the picture frame crookedly against the headstone. 

She blinked at it, then returned to them both, much more reserved, clearly unsure what was going on -- and anxious, she’d stuck her thumb in her mouth. Adora opened her arms, allowing Luna to hide inside her embrace, although she did remove her thumb from her mouth. It was a habit Glimmer found adorable, but Adora was adamant to nip in the bud so she didn’t ruin her teeth.

_‘They’re baby teeth, they’re gonna fall out anyway, ‘Dora.’_

_‘It’s a bad habit, Glim. We don’t want her dealing with stress or anxiety through habits. We want to instill healthy coping mechanisms.’_

_‘....Are you quoting one of those baby development books again?’_

_‘Maybe… But it’s still true!’_

Glimmer couldn't really blame Luna, especially now, for falling back on a comforting habit. Hell, she wished she could too right now.

“Grandpa’s not _in the stone_ , Lu…” Adora replied, combed her fingers through Luna’s hair as she spoke.

Her blue eyes grew distant. “You remember how Grandma used to tell you stories a lot? About Grandpa Micah? And she said you couldn’t meet him, even though you wanted to, because he wasn’t here anymore. Do you remember?”

Luna nodded and looked up at Glimmer who was standing about as still and usefully as one of the headstones. Forcing herself to overcome the paralyzing fear, she also crouched beside the two of them and took one of Luna’s plump hands.

“Grandpa was _my_ dad, Lu. And a long time ago, _way_ before you were even born--,” Glimmer paused, should she say the word? Luna probably wouldn’t understand regardless. “--He uh, h-he died. Um, he’s gone. And he can’t come back no matter how hard we want him too. So we come here, to him, instead. And we leave him gifts to remember how much we loved him.”

Adora was watching her carefully, and Glimmer knew she must already look like a mess. Face red, eyes burning with tears she refused to shed. But she waited for Glimmer to continue without prompting. 

Luna, was not so patient:

“Why can’t he come back though?” she whined.

“He just can’t, sweetheart,” Glimmer rubbed her thumb over Luna’s hand. “It’s hard to explain…”

Luna glowered, unhappy with the answer, the eyes that matched Adora’s boring into her own. It was always overwhelming to notice the features their daughter had that were slowly growing to match their own. But sometimes Glimmer thought she caught instances of Angella -- in the same way they could both hold a surprisingly judging grimace. Or the length of her dark eyelashes and her ears that stuck out just a bit too far like Micah’s had.

“Lu, you wanna give Grandpa your drawing too?” Adora asked, nudging her to pull her out of her confused stupor.

Luna jumped to grab her doodle from the basket. She’d illustrated stick figures of the three of them (and Uncle Bow because he was her favorite) and signed it 'Luv, Luna' when they’d told her it was going to be a gift.

She placed the drawing next to the frame, adjusted it a few times, and then plopped a nearby rock onto it so it wouldn’t float away.

After she was satisfied with the placement, she wandered back, this time standing beside Glimmer, one hand on her knee. 

“Mommy,” she asked suddenly, very concerned. “If Granpa can’t come back, how can you see him?”

Despite her best efforts, Glimmer’s tear began spilling down her cheeks. “I can’t.”

“But you’ll miss him!” Luna exclaimed, not fully grasping the concept, but seeming to register her mother’s distress just fine.

Glimmer sniffed and nodded, unable to stop the flow of tears and her running nose. 

Suddenly, it was eleven years ago. She was still sitting in the car -- not realizing it would be the last time she saw her father’s face. She was in the hospital bed, being told he was dead. She was at his funeral, watching the casket being lowered, unable to say goodbye. She was on the floor of some bar, too drunk to stand as she tried everything she could to numb herself to the pain. She was in a stranger's bed, letting them use her in the way she thought she deserved. Punished for every mistake she’d ever made. Every person she’d ever pushed away.

And then a soft hand landed on her cheek and she blinked back into reality. Luna was staring at her, large blue eyes also filled with tears. “Mommy don’t cry.”

As sweet as her plea was, it just broke Glimmer further. She began to sob, taking Luna in her arms and hugging her as tightly as the toddler squeezed back. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, she was supposed to be the strong one. Crying so hard she was making her own kid cry.

She’d just messed up again.

But it was hard to think straight through the grief. When being here just reminded her how much she wished Micah could have experienced everything with her. She wanted him to still be here to comfort her mother. She wanted him to meet Luna and play games with her and teach her all the things a grandpa should. She wanted him to have never gone so her life hadn’t fallen apart and she wasn’t plunged so deep into her own grief that--

Suddenly she felt Adora’s arms around her too, cradling both of them until they were all sitting awkwardly in the dirt together. Adora’s arms had always been strong, but right now they felt like a fortress, the only thing keeping her grounded. Solid and warm and unyielding. The arms that had held fast to her during her darkest moments. Still doing the thing they did best after all these years -- holding Glimmer, and now the trembling toddler, between them with all the love in the world.

After a moment, she was no longer spiraling through her darkest memories. 

Instead, she was in Adora’s old apartment, laughing with her as they watched a terrible movie together. She was in the kitchen teaching her how to cook, and playing ‘catch the popcorn piece in your mouth’. She was being lifted from a gutter, wrapped in warmth and reminded for hours how much she was loved. She was waking up just as the sun rose, cradled in her fiance’s arms. She was going back to university during the day and coming home late at night to find Adora waiting up on the couch, and draping across her like a human blanket. Then they were deciding to have a baby. Then they were up late into the night, researching how exactly to go about the complicated process. Celebrating Christmas with her family and breaking the exciting news about becoming parents. She was falling asleep to Adora’s vows of endless love.

And then she was back in the cemetery, her heart aching now for more reasons than grief. Losing Micah was indescribably difficult. And the path it had sent her spiralling down wasn’t what she’d ever pictured for herself. 

But now, sitting beside his resting place, with her daughter in her arms, and her wife wrapped so tightly around her that it hurt, and their basket of gifts, and the stupid minivan in the parking lot. 

Glimmer couldn’t say there was a single thing she’d ever change.

Because, if she did, she wouldn’t have exactly what she did now.

And the life she had now was pretty fucking great.

Pulling back a bit, kissing Adora’s also tear stained cheek and then prompting Luna to come out of hiding in her neck; she kissed the toddler’s forehead and smiled at the concern on her little face.

“It’s okay, Lu. Crying is okay sometimes. Especially when stuff hurts or gets really big. It’s okay to cry here for grandpa. But I’m alright, don’t worry. Okay?”

Luna plapped her tiny hands on Glimmer’s cheeks in response, sloppily wiping the tears away. Then she wrapped her arms around Glimmer’s neck again and held on. Glimmer propped her cheek on the soft blonde head and gazed at Adora, who looked like she was about to burst from a mixture of pride and overwhelming sorrow.

She leaned in too, one hand on Luna’s back, and touched her forehead to Glimmer’s. Glimmer closed her eyes, focusing on the steady rise and fall of Adora’s breath, syncing her own to it until they were both calmed and the tears stopped falling. When finally, Adora pulled away, she pressed a soft kiss to Glimmer’s lips and then one to Luna’s head.

Rising from the dirt, Adora sniffed and wiped the grime off her dress pants. 

“Alright, Lu. Let’s leave the flowers for grandpa and then we’ll go get ice cream like we promised.”

Luna popped so quickly out of Glimmer’s arms at the mention of ice cream that she nearly smashed into Glimmer’s chin. Luckily, she was able to dodge just in time and help lay out the specific flowers they’d chosen:

Lilies for purity of a lost soul.

Pink carnations for remembrance

A single rose that Adora helped Luna lay; love for the deceased.

And finally, Glimmer set down her white tulips. Perfuma had told her they symbolized forgiveness; they were meant to be a gift for others.

But Glimmer thought maybe they could symbolize how she hoped Micah had forgiven her. For all the messes she’d made and fought to get out of. For blaming herself for his death for so many years.

Once the flowers were laid out, Adora placed a hand on the headstone. She didn’t say anything, but she bowed her head for a few seconds and then turned to her family. Glimmer took a moment to do the same, running her fingers over the epitaph and _thinking with all her heart_ : ‘ _I miss you everyday Dad, and I love you’._

Getting ready to lead the way out of the cemetery, Glimmer was surprised to see Luna approaching the grave, copying the gesture of her mothers. She patted the stone a few times and heaved a sigh that was far more exhausted than her mere three years should have allowed:

“Bye, bye, Granpa,” she mumbled without prompting. “I see you next time.”

Then she turned solemnly back to her moms and took their waiting hands. Glimmer found herself smiling through fresh tears, and laughing as Adora swung Luna up into a piggyback and praised her for being so good during such a tough day. Luna squealed with laughter, the sound of utter joy echoing around the empty cemetery.

As they piled into the minivan and pulled out of the parking lot, Glimmer felt Adora’s hand land in her hair, then slide down to her neck and shoulder, squeezing before she had to return to the gear shift.

She gave her wife a silent but solid smile. After many, many years, Glimmer was able to say with the utmost confidence that she was loved and she would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Thoughts, comments and critiques are welcome!


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